The Albert Gubay Foundation

Albert Gubay’s entrepreneurial genius was evident even as a young man and it became the foundation he built his business empire around. What was also evident was his drive and passion to leave a legacy, culminating in a pact he made as a young, penniless man, promising to give half of the wealth he created to the service of God. That vision has become a reality. In recent years his charitable aims went even further. He has left The Derwent Group to charity so that as well as meeting his promise to God, its dividends can be used for general charitable purposes. Following the sad loss of our Founder on 5th January 2016, The Derwent Group is now owned by The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation.

The Derwent Group’s activities now all focus around this one central element, creating profit and maximising revenues for the charity that owns it.

In February 2011, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI bestowed upon Mr Gubay the Knight Commander with Star of the Order of St Gregory the Great. This is an order which is given for conspicuous service to the Church and society. The award was bestowed on Mr Gubay for the philanthropic work he carried out over many years and in recognition of the establishment of The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation.

The Derwent Group

Our Founder, Albert Gubay, had previously referred to his commitment to ensuring that half of the wealth he built up during his lifetime would be used to benefit good causes connected to the Roman Catholic Church. In recent years, he has been able to fulfil even greater philanthropic ambitions and has realised his dream of a substantial, privately funded charity, supporting Catholic, other faith and secular good causes.

He spent the last years of his life organising his affairs so that on his death The Derwent Group could be left to the Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation. That charity will now fulfil his commitment to the Church and will use its substantial resources to benefit a wide range of other charities.

Whilst this impressive bequest will encompass his lifelong vow to use half of his wealth to benefit the Church, it now goes well beyond this. Many other charities will be able to benefit from the annual income generated by the property companies that will be owned by the charity. His implementation of this simple but impressive idea also means that the overall funds available for charitable causes will carry on growing in perpetuity.

The result is a charity which, on our Founder’s death in January 2016, was worth about £700million. Part of its income is earmarked for reinvestment so that the flow of distributions for good causes continues to grow. Despite this reinvestment, on its establishment in 2016 the charity still had funds available to it to distribute to good causes of about £10million per annum. However, The Derwent Group’s plans for the coming years should see a dramatic increase in the the donations to good causes and it is hoped that by 2021 the charity could be giving away up to £20million per annum.

Albert Gubay’s ambitions for the charity also drove his whole approach to money. Always a frugal man, his care with money had a purpose. His philosophy is summed up by his comment that: “Every penny wasted or lost reduces the pot available to the charity.”